The first day back at work re-entry and it was tiring, and I can't even say I have the satisfaction of returning from a week at a spa.

I worked a few more rows on the All Seasons Shawl yesterday and it's really nice. Thought the pattern calls for either Aunt Lydia's Denim (roughly sport-weight cotton) or something heavier, it's so easy to adapt it to any yarn weight. I'm using Softball Cotton in what is called "sport weight" but if it's really sport weight I'll eat it with hot sauce - it's slightly more than fingering, somewhat less than sport, but more fingering than sport, IMHO. That's the thing that gets me about terms like "worsted weight" and "sport weight" - they are often not what I would have called worsted or sport or fingering. It's almost like there's a yarn inflation going on: "Don't worry, it's not as thin as you think, you'll like it!" And then what's worse is often the gauge listed with the yarn is similarly "puffed" - am I the only one who bought yarn and knitted it at the appropriate needle size to "get gauge," whatever it was, and hit gauge dead-on and then hated the fabric produced? The gauge on some yarn balls is looser than I would actually find attractive in a knitted fabric. The gauge in some patterns - ditto. I don't want to see that much daylight or have something so lacking in body. Is that just me?

Anyway, I love this crocheted shawl because I actually used a lighter yarn with less body and only went down one hook size and got a really nice fabric that's not distorted by the conversions, and is probably a helluva lot softer than the Aunt Lydia prototype. This is soft and nicely cobwebby, but not flimsy enough to be damaged too easily - I'm thinking this is the ideal nursing shawl or christening shawl in this yarn. I wish all fiber pursuits were as flexible as shawls, especially crocheted shawls like this. If you like the way the stitches look, you're fine. Screw the Suggested Yarn.

I've never been married to the pattern, but lately I am less and less satisfied with most patterns.